“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to put to rout all that was not life…” -Henry David Thoreau

Catching Crabs

Our birthday celebrations began today. June and July mark fun months for us because of our birthdays. It’s probably something that’s developed from being so spoiled as a child – my mom is amazing at making you feel special. I love the concept of ‘a birthday week’ or a birthday weekend. Depending on how the birthday falls – I love having the fun overlap over multiple days.I actually got a little bit of sleep last night after going out to sleep with Finn in his bed in the middle of the night. I didn’t have to go back into my room where Royal James was awaiting until seven. I was feeling like a million bucks when I woke up. We had the whole family dressed and ready to go at 10 am. We hit up Rose’s, my favorite, and then went and explored the tide pools. Ryan’s brain works so well at night, so he’s been studying a lot at night. He’ll go to the library or to a cafe until at least 9. The boys will already be asleep when he comes home and he can do more. It’s been working. It’s amazing how his multiple 3 hour intense study sessions are proving to be working well. If he breaks it up a little with a run, swim or walk with us he can really keep the ball rolling.

There were crabs running around the tide pools and I decided I was going to catch one. It had been a while since I caught a crab- probably five years ago in Mexico. I have to admit their pincers really do make you nervous. I wimped out my first two grabs and then said to myself, ‘Heath what kind of example is this to Finn? You would have had that crab immediately if you were still a kid.’ I grabbed it, and then shortly after screamed, ‘It GOT ME!’ Because it did, I got pinched. In the words of Mr Fin, “Don’t do that again mom!” He had a lot of fun. Man that boy is a good kid.

When you get to enjoy completely private beaches in the winter it’s always a bit depressing when you have to share it in the summer. Today we were like, ‘oh yeah – summer.’ People.

We had a fun ‘hike’ along the shore. Finn loves looking for the sea creatures. It wouldn’t be a true adventure without a little blood.

Finn’s face after seeing the crab. He was a bit horrified, and then he got away and dad grabbed him and he too got pinched. It was fun. The day was a lot of fun.

I told Royal James this morning that we were taking him to ‘the sea’ because he’s a sick bird. Poor thing, so congested. Lots of pics of Hb in this post. I haven’t been the best at getting in front of the camera lately. Here you go, to make up for some sparse appearances over the last few weeks. You can’t quite tell in this picture but the water clarity was AMAZING today!

This one (above) is my favorite from today. Ryan is 100 times better than I am at taking pictures with a creative eye.

Just caught up on the last few blog posts – sounds like you guys are doing amazing…handling every curve ball with such great positive energy. You all look great and the boys are adorable as ever! Thinking of you guys…